(Above) Dexter Dalwood, Greenham Common (2008). Oil on canvas. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery © Dexter Dalwood
Exhibition: Dexter Dalwood, Tate St Ives, January 23 – May 3 2010
Tate St Ives is to present an exhibition by British artist Dexter Dalwood featuring major paintings and collages made over the last 12 years.
Dalwood's works depict imagined and constructed interiors or landscapes, usually devoid of figures, which act as memorials or descriptions of various historic people, places or monuments.
They draw on the idea of "History Painting" as a genre, and the quotations, hints and references can be elusive and highly codified at first. But like the grand 18th and 19th Century works they allude to, the canvasses have an immediacy and power as paintings first and foremost.
The paintings range from major political events such as The Birth of the UN in 2003 to imagined places which have become lodged in our collective cultural unconscious, such as Neverland (1999).
Dexter Dalwood, Death of David Kelly (2008). Oil on canvas, private collection, Lake Forest, Illinois. © Dexter Dalwood, courtesy Gagosian Gallery. Pic: Dave Morgan
Other works are presented as "portraits" of famous or notorious figures, including Truman Capote (2004) and Diane Vreeland (2003) produced through the constructed scenes or sets which he creates.
Almost all of Dalwood's paintings start out as small collages, cut from the pages of magazines and art history journals.
In the subsequent large-scale canvasses the sharp edges and disjointed images are faithfully reproduced, preserving their slightly unnerving, jarring quality on a monumental scale.
Dalwood forms his pictures in a highly complex way, referencing and contrasting both image and content to weave together personal, social and political histories with art history, popular culture and biography.
They display a smart and seductive lightness of touch whilst also being accessible and witty.
A display of works from the Tate collection selected by Dexter Dalwood will accompany the exhibition.
Admission £5.65/£3.20 (free for under-18s).
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